1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to input devices in general, and particularly to an input device having an operation-input part to receive an input operation that is movably supported above a base plate.
2. Description of Related Art
In addition to a keyboard, a laptop personal computer (laptop PC) is typically provided with various input devices, such as a touch pad and a pointing device, as an alternative to a mouse. A touch pad enables the manipulation of a computer displayed on a display device, in response to a touch operation thereto with a finger tip or a pen tip.
Since a touch pad includes a board to detect a touch operation, counter-measures against static electricity are required at the touch pad and the board. One method is to connect the ground line (GND) provided at the board and a metal base plate to vertically-movably support the touch pad with an earth wire. This method, however, leads to an increase in the number of components as well as in the number of steps for assembling of the components, which leads to an increase in cost.
Consequently, it would be desirable to provide an improved input device with sufficient countermeasure against static electricity while without increasing cost.